AMES, Iowa -- In what best can be described as the end of an
era, Iowa State University officials have quietly deactivated
the last mainframe computer supporting academics.

Earlier this month, the officials deactivated the Hitachi HDS
mainframe that provided support to the ISU Library, including
its tracking and upkeep of books and card files. The ISU
library, like most other ISU departments and colleges,
switched over to a "client-server" computer system that
offers greater power and much more versatility, said Peter
Siegel, director of Academic Information Technology at Iowa
State.

"The shutting down of the Hitachi mainframe brings to an end
our academic use of mainframe computers," Siegel said. "The
mainframe computer was the primary support for campus
academic computing from the early 1960s until the early 1980s
and provided major support into the 1990s. This is truly an
end of an era for mainframes at Iowa State."

Iowa State has used mainframes to support its academic,
research and administrative efforts since 1962. But
significant increases in the power of microcomputers and
workstations, coupled with the advantages of distributed
computing and client choice, has made the mainframe a quickly
aging technology that is fast seeing its final days of
usefulness. Many universities are making the switch to client
servers, Siegel said. Iowa State still employs a mainframe to
support administrative efforts, where it remains effective,
he added.

Siegel said the transfer over to client servers allows users
a wider range of services and more convenience. "It truly
allows the desk-top computer to be the window to the world
where services come to you, rather than you having to go to
the service," he said.

Siegel said 400 server systems are currently in operation at
Iowa State. These systems provide support for several
thousand Windows, Macintosh and UNIX client systems. He added
that Iowa State will eventually attempt to sell the Hitachi
HDS mainframe.